People who knock the wind out of your sails

The wind can only be knocked out of my sails by someone I love. If someone I didn't know said, your writing sucks or your book is boring, it would bother me for about ten minutes, but I saw my son shake his head no at his wife when she asked if she could read one of my books. Mind you, he has never read anything I've written, unless you count the letters I sent him when he was in the army, but there he was warning her off. It pissed me off and hurt my feelings, and I still think of it from time to time, like right now. Grrrr.

On the other hand, my husband loves my novels - yes, he's actually read them - so I only listen to him. In the end, whatever anyone thinks about my work, writing is what makes me happy, so I keep at it.

Aggy B. said:

My husband tells me on a nearly daily basis that I'm wasting my time with writing. That if I were any good I would be making money at it. That fiction (SF/F in particular) is stupid and doesn't make any difference in the world because it's all made up.

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Ann Rice wrote gay erotica for years before she wrote Interview with the Vampire. I'm not saying I like her work, but she wasn't making any money until she made money. Everyone starts somewhere. Furthermore, imaginary things rule the world. The US Dollar is a fiat currency and it is covered with art. Art is what makes the world move. It's on or part of everything you buy with any value from McDonalds food containers to furniture. Without someone writing interesting things for other people to read and engage their imagination we would all be extremely bored. Fiction changes lives. It seeds thoughts and ideas in the public consciousness and inspires us to be greater than we previously imagined that we could be.

Even if you never make a dime, it's what you want to do with your life and that matters.

Ann Rice wrote gay erotica for years before she wrote Interview with the Vampire. I'm not saying I like her work, but she wasn't making any money until she made money.

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Was it published, or unpublished? I've read lots of interviews with her and AFAIK Interview with the Vampire was the first thing she sold.

Not just writing. I'd just completed my PhD in science and gained a postdoc research job and my parents were really pleased. I'd gone home for a few days as my aunt was had come to stay for a couple of weeks and she and I were talking, I was telling her about what I'd achieved and what I wanted to do. She looked very dubious and said "I've known people who've done what you are planning to do and they were unemployed by the time they were thirty." And that was a job in science.
I have to say I am still ticked off about that. I now wish I'd asked her "so what do you think I should be doing to avoid being unemployed when I am thirty" - just to find out.

When someone says they'll read something I wrote, that I worked on heavily, and it becomes obvious they don't really give a shit.

In terms of pictures of people, and whether they are famous - there are painting of people and no-one knows who they are that are now considered Old Masters - one example is the Laughing Cavalier. If it's an interesting picture, that matters far more.

I no long mention the word "write" in front of my sister or anyone else who is generally a sourpuss and gets their kicks out of busting balloons.

Cindyt said:

I no long mention the word "write" in front of my sister or anyone else who is generally a sourpuss and gets their kicks out of busting balloons.

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Indeed, jealousy is a nasty trait.

Cobalt Jade said:

Was it published, or unpublished? I've read lots of interviews with her and AFAIK Interview with the Vampire was the first thing she sold.

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I wondered if the Sleeping Beauty books were what were referred to, but according to Wikipedia (which loves us and would never lie) these were written after the first Vampire and before Lestat.

How much fine art does your mom buy? And how much does she spend on it? Does she have a framed portrait of Beyonce in her house?

I'm just going to assume the answer to those questions.

Ok so how much is her opinion worth? Pay her her two cents and move on.